In a cellular communication system such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a user equipment (UE), such as a mobile telephone, wireless card, etc., measures the signal strength and/or signal quality of the signals from its serving cell and a number of neighboring cells. The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) issues specifications, or standards, that define an LTE and other communication systems.
The results of the measurements are sent by the UE to the controlling node, the eNodeB, of the serving cell, when and if the measurements fulfill certain criteria that are set by the eNodeB, so called “event criteria”, or with a periodicity that is defined by the eNodeB.
The results of the measurements are used by the eNodeB to decide when and if a handover of the UE to another cell should be initiated.